The Hawk who drowned in the Duck Pond
by BML Hillen-Keene
Summary: And was reborn as a Duck. Adam Banks doesn't think he can withstand another transfer.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Do not own._

_Because Adam looked a little devastated when he found out he was on the Varsity team. Please excuse glaring plot errors. These are of course, my own views of the character of Adam Banks._

"Hey Adam, shouldn't you be over on that side of the table?" Charlie asked, not quite able to keep his bitterness fully out of his voice. "This side is only for—"

"For Ducks?" Adam cut him off, his eyes fixed firmly on a point over Charlie's shoulder.

For the first time in a long time Charlie looked at Adam, really looked, and registered what he saw. Adam was tense, his back ramrod straight, his fingers toying with the cuffs of his shirt sleeves, his face carefully blanked. Charlie had known Adam for a long time, and now that he was looking, he could see all the hurt his friend was trying to hide.

"Yeah, for Ducks." Charlie said, and then reached out to catch hold of Adam's arm before the other boy took his words the wrong way; which, it being Adam, was practically inevitable. "I guess I forgot that for a while didn't I?"

Adam's eyes, which had switched from the wall behind Charlie to the hand on his arm, looked up slowly. "Yeah." It was a little rough sounding, and Charlie knew he was searching his face for any hint of deception, any hint that Charlie would go back to treating him like the Hawks had. Charlie hated that he had managed to throw their friendship that far back.

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"You had an unfair advantage last time. You had one of us. Banksie."

Adam felt a smug smile work its way into his face. He wasn't ridiculously insecure, no matter what Charlie liked to say about him, but it was nice to hear he belonged sometimes. God knows he hadn't felt that way lately.

"You can keep him, he never had the heart of a warrior anyway."

And that one sentence wiped his smile away, and tossed him right back to when he had first been transferred onto the Ducks. The Hawks had completely turned their backs on him, and suddenly he had been friendless. Making Varsity had filled him with dread, because he had seen it all happening again, only this time, he would lose friendships that meant so much more to him.

It had been everything he had thought it would be, he hadn't even realised until after Charlie had quit, that he had been purposefully distancing himself from the others, until they had started reeling him in. Losing one of them was bad enough, Goldberg had said, but losing both was as bad as committing suicide. Surprisingly, Adam hadn't felt like they were trying to use him to replace Charlie, he'd realised that they'd still considered him one of them even if Charlie apparently didn't.

He didn't realise the conversation had finished until he felt Charlie give him a shake. "You ok?"

Adam blinked. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Don't listen to those jerks. Who wants to be a warrior anyway?"

Adam shook his head vehemently.

Russ gave a laugh, and Charlie grinned at him, as did the rest of the team.

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"Hey Adam." Charlie leaned against the locker they had all unconsciously left empty and ready for Adam's return to them.

Adam looked up. "Yeah?" he asked, pulling the wrist wrap tight.

Charlie looked pointedly at the wrist bandage. "You haven't worn one of them in a long time Banksie." And his meaning was perfectly clear; Adam might say he was getting to be too much like Bombay, but it was hard not to look out for the teams welfare like this, and Adam hadn't worn a bandage round that wrist in a year and a half, since he'd taken a bad fall skating in the park (Charlie was still convinced some of the Hawks team had done it).

"Not taking any chances is all." Adam shrugged.

Charlie frowned. "You twisted it?" he guessed, then shook his head, Adam would just have said he had if that was the case. "Someone else twisted it?"

Adam stilled, and Charlie knew he was right.

"When?" he asked.

Adam shrugged. "It was an accident Charlie, it doesn't matter. Come on, we'd better finish getting ready."

Charlie put a hand on his shoulder to stop his getting up. "When?" he asked.

Adam sighed and rolled his eyes. "It was an accident Charlie. I just fell the wrong way during training."

"Yeah, see how I'm not buying that." Charlie asked, his frown deepening. "It was because of us, that's why your not telling." He sighed and sat on the bench beside Adam. There was silence for a moment, the locker room completely empty, everyone else already up on the ice, training.

"Did you know that the rest of the animal kingdom is afraid of the duck?" Charlie broke the silence quietly. Adam hadn't been there, at the beginning, and this was something he needed to hear, he'd probably needed to hear it years ago, but it was hard to remember that Adam hadn't been there from before they were the Ducks.

"They are?" Adam asked with a disbelieving smile.

Charlie nodded sagely. "Because they know that if they mess with one duck, they mess with the whole flock." He waited patiently for Adam to connect the dots, and when he saw that he had he stood, grabbed his helmet and smiled. "Come on Banks."

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Adam was not celebrating. He was using the pretence of stowing his gear to avoid suspicion; Charlie seemed to be trying to make up for being a jerk, and had developed a 'Banks is not his usual cheerful self' radar.

"Something the matter?"

Adam turned, surprised to find Coach Orion standing beside him, looking at him sideways, an easy smile on his face, a rare sight. "I'm fine."

"Worried about Varsity?"

Adam frowned, was he that much of an open book?

"Do you want to go back?" Coach asked. "You looked like you were having a hard time with them."

"How would you know?" Adam asked, wondering.

"I watch the practices sometimes. It helps to know what the enemy is up to. Seemed to me you were by yourself a lot."

Adam shrugged, he'd known that just scoring a few goals wouldn't impress his new teammates. They were all older than him, and knew each other, so conversations had gone over his head. It had just been easier to isolate himself as much as they would let him.

"You've got the skills for Varsity, better than some of the guys on the team." Coach said, eyeing him speculatively. "But you weren't happy with them were you?"

"I'm a Duck." Adam muttered, feeling once again like that lonely hawk drowning in the duck pond.

Coach gave a small laugh. "I'd wondered when Fred told me you weren't excited about joining Varsity. You know, usually kids like you are all starry eyed at being chosen." He smiled. "But I guess I understand. If you want I'll have a talk with the Varsity coach."

"Won't it look bad?" Adam asked quietly, but already he knew he would say 'yes, please'.

"If that's how they're treating their junior players, then there's not going to be a problem." Coach nodded at the wrist wrap, and Adam fought the urge to groan. Charlie had told the rest of the team about his wrist, someone must have leaked it to the Coach.

"Cake Eater!" Russ yelled.

Adam turned to see the rest of the team had stopped their revelling and were eyeing him.

"Sorry everyone." Coach Orion said, smiling. "I was just telling Adam the good news."

"What good news?" Charlie asked.

"I'll let him tell you himself." The Coach smiled, giving Adam a pat on the back before turning to leave the team to their own celebration.

All eyes turned to Adam, who found himself blushing. "I… I'm on the team." He said at last.

There was a unified rolling of eyes, and a chorus of 'Duh's!"

Adam shook his head and grinned, deciding to leave it at that, he'd give them a shock when he turned up at their regular practices.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm not sure if this is in the same continuity as the previous chapter. For now just assume they're two completely seperate interpretations of the third film._

"Hey Banks."

There was a tense moment where Charlie was sure Adam would ignore him and walk away. Not that Charlie would blame him; he'd been acting like a jerk since Adam had made Varsity. He could admit it, if only to himself, that part of him had enjoyed hurting Adam, especially after the whole dinner farce.

"Mmm." was Adam's response, perfectly non committal, and Charlie winched, because Adam could be a right passive aggressive ass when he felt entitled to it, which wasn't as often as people thought, Adam very, very rarely took offense at anything, but when he did you lived to regret it. It felt like being forced to kick a puppy, repeatedly.

"Can we talk?" Charlie asked.

Adam turned slightly, eyeing Charlie warily, and Charlie realised with a start that Adam had been doing that for the whole game, despite acting happy around everyone else. Adam shrugged. "Sure."

Charlie took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking. "The dinner—" was what came out of his mouth before the 'I'm sorry' he wanted to say.

Adam closed his eyes, and Charlie could see him shoring up defences, and he found that it hurt. "What about it?" Adam asked, refusing to meet Charlie's gaze.

"You knew." Charlie said, thinking back to that night, remembering the look on Adam's face. "Even if you didn't know before, you knew when we were sitting round the table. Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you stay?"

Adam actually flinched a step or two back, making Charlie realise that he was clenching his fists, and had god only knew what sort of expression on his face; but even at his angriest, Adam had never looked scared of him.

"I couldn't."

And that was when Charlie saw what he needed to see, and he didn't like it. His friend was getting bullied. Charlie had seen a lot of it growing up, people getting the shit kicked out of them for being different, name calling and a hundred other things. Charlie couldn't see the Varsity team being the psychical bullying type, more evidence that even playing hockey could explain away. But they were doing something, and Charlie was going to find out what.

After finding out their scholarships might be revoked, Charlie went to school rink to think. He had taken a seat in the stands, and was debating whether or not to go get his skates from the locker room. He had been about to get up and head for the locker room when he heard the sounds of Varsity making their way onto the ice on the far side of the rink.

Charlie hid, for two reasons, one being that he really didn't want to get into a fight with Varsity without the rest of the Ducks for backup; two being that this might be the only way he would find out what Varsity was doing to Adam.

The immediate thing he noticed, when he finally managed to pick Adam out of the group, was that he was by himself, and not in the way he was sometimes by himself with the Ducks, when he just needed the time to get into his Hockey headspace, because Adam off the ice was an entirely different kettle of fish to Banks on the ice.

Then came the jibes, vicious barbs that were designed to put the 'Wonder-kid' in his place, at the very bottom of the pack. When one of the Varsity players started a round of laughter going by stating 'The only reason he looked good enough for us, was because the other little chickens are all still playing peewee.' Charlie felt angry, not for the Ducks, but for Adam, because he was a damn good player, and he didn't deserve that kind of put down. Not when he already put himself down for not being good enough to meet with his fathers demanding standards.

"I hear you've been off playing with the Ducks." Riley, as Charlie was able to identify him, said, skating right up to Adam.

"They're my friends." Adam responded, barely audible from so far away.

"Well I think you'd better stop, can't go fraternizing with the enemy now can we?" and Riley gave Adam a deceptively friendly slap on the back that sent Adam reeling for a moment.

Adam didn't answer, just went back to warming up by himself, but Charlie could see that his heart wasn't in it. Varsity had no idea what they were missing out on… or maybe they did… maybe they were jealous. Banks was a great player, not just because he had the skills needed to be a great player, but because he enjoyed being out on the ice. Charlie had caught him once or twice with Tammy and Tommy, and later Ken, learning some figure-skating, and when he'd asked him about it, Adam had just shrugged and said it might come in handy someday.

Charlie watched Varsity practice and mulled it over.

Varsity picked on the Ducks because they were scholarship students, deemed unworthy of being in the school and all that elitist crap. They picked on Adam because even when his head wasn't in the game, he was good, and they were either jealous or threatened, and the easiest way to cut someone like that down to size wasn't to belittle them, or parade rumours around, it was to isolate them. Varsity had managed to do that very well.

Now that he thought about it, the only time he had had seen the Varsity players leave Adam alone to speak with them had been when they'd been invited to dinner, all the other times Adam had been in the middle of the group, hustled away quickly, and hadn't been allowed to get a word in edgeways.

Well, it was time for Charlie and the rest of the ducks to pull Adam back into the flock, Varsity had ruffled one too many feathers recently, and Charlie would be damned if he got chucked out of school and left Adam to deal with this shit on his own. Maybe it was time to call in the big guns.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'd wondered." Said Fred Wilson, coming to sit down beside Ted Orion his eyes flicking over the Eden Hall Ducks as they played. It wasn't a real match, just a friendly between teammates.

"Wondered?" Orion asked, not looking at his fellow coach, busy taking notes on the form of his team, and what needed improvement; he'd found that it was easier to identify area's that needed work when the group wasn't all tensed up.

"About Banks." Wilson said.

Orion's eyes found Banks quickly and he watched him for a moment, he wasn't playing flat out at the moment, in fact he'd agreed to play defence this game when Averman complained that his team should have Banks, (both sides had been fighting over him since they'd gotten on the ice). "What about him?"

"I'd wondered why you posted him up to Varsity."

"Because he's that good." Orion said easily. "Better even."

Wilson chuckled. "I can see that now. Hell, he's playing defence now better than he was his usual position on Varsity."

Orion shrugged. "He wasn't in his headspace."

Wilson gave a small laugh. "I get the feeling it's more than that."

Orion didn't answer, knowing Wilson would understand. Banks had come out his shell since he'd moved back to JV, and just the simple thing of being comfortable with his teammates had improved his playing. Orion had watched a few Varsity practices, and Banks had been playing well, nowhere near his potential, but more than good enough for Varsity. Had the older teens been more welcoming, more accepting of the youngest member and the people he considered friends; they would have the new rising Hockey star in Eden Hall.

Though Orion didn't approve of the bullying he had been hearing about (he'd only heard the mildest of it he was sure), he was glad Banks was back with the rest of the Ducks. Being a teen was difficult enough without adults making it more complicated, and though it had been unintentional, Orion himself had made Banks experience of Eden Hall needlessly stressful.

"See you for a drink later?" Wilson asked when the silence had stretched on.

Orion nodded. "After this lot I might need one." It was said with a grin, and Wilson laughed again and the shook on it.

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"What's Coach Wilson doing here?" Adam asked. He hadn't noticed immediately, but he'd caught the handshake just before Wilson got up to leave.

"Probably coming to beg you to go back to Varsity." Averman said, hoping to use his friends distraction to his advantage. Unfortunately, Banks was nearly as good in defence as offense, and sent the puck flying back up the rink.

"You're not going back." Charlie said, skating to stop beside him as Averman took off after the puck. It wasn't said possessively, or as a question, just a statement of fact, and Adam appreciated Charlie's belief. "Come on then. We have a game to win."

Adam gave him an appraising look. "You do realise we're on opposing teams?"

Charlie grinned. "My mistake. I have a game to win."

Adam smacking his stick down on the ice and smiled. "I don't think so Spazway."


	4. Chapter 4

"You were in on this weren't you?" Riley asked with a growl, coming to stand beside Adam, who was torn between laughing his head off at his… at the Ducks ingenuity, or giving in to his growing loneliness. He wondered what had set them off, and if freezing his stuff was meant to include him in their fun, or a message that he wasn't a Duck anymore.

"They iced my stuff too." He said, reaching out, but stopping himself before he could actually touch the jacket, he really didn't want to have to pick up the pieces.

Riley however had no such thoughts, and for a second time today smashed a jacket into hundreds and thousands of pieces, using Adam instead of his fist, swinging him round and shoving him backwards and into the locker, making everything within break and scatter. Adam flailed for a moment before catching himself on the freezing metal and pulling himself up quickly, only to be pushed back again.

Adam stayed down this time, and waited for the accusations to really start.

"What the hell happened in here?" Coach Wilson cried entering the locker room.

No one spoke, but Riley reached down a hand to help Adam up, his glare warning Adam to just accept it and keep his mouth shut. Adam reached up reluctantly, and winched as Riley's fingers dug into his wrist and pulled with more force than was necessary. Riley gave his arm a final jerk before letting him go, and Adam pulled it back and cradled the wrist. When was he going to learn not to offer his dominant hand to people who didn't like him?

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Adam had know it was a bad idea from the beginning to tell the others to come to this dinner. He'd mostly done it simply so he could see his friends again, and because he really didn't want to be alone with his team anymore, or at least, alone with Riley and his group. Riley had clued him in at the start of dinner when he'd sat Adam between two Varsity players, and Adam hadn't had a chance to talk to the others, the two on either side kept his old team occupied and Adam was starting to think that none of his friends really missed him at all.

And then it had been time for Varsity to leave, and Adam warred with himself for a moment, but Riley caught his eye, and he knew he'd be hauled out if he dared open his mouth, and that he'd just make things worse for the Ducks. So he stood, hoping he would get the chance to slip away and pay at least part of the bill.

Riley's hand slapped his shoulder, and then clamped down, steering Adam away from the till and out the door. He didn't let go until they were all piled into one of their cars. Adam sat silent and morose as Varsity laughed around him.

God, if the Ducks didn't hate him already they surely did now. 


	5. Chapter 5

_Ok, this makes no sense at all, but I really just had to write this down, so I apologise now for how confusing it is._

Philip Banks eyed his silent youngest child worriedly, he turned his head to look questioningly at his two oldest. Nicolas shrugged and Halle just rolled her eyes. Since his wife had died twelve years ago, Philip had found it difficult to raise three children, his daughter had been the worst at first, being the oldest she had taken her mothers death the hardest, and no matter what Philip had said or done he just couldn't be enough. Nick had been easier, he'd just introduced him to Hockey (a sport he had always enjoyed), and had watched his son fall in love with the game. Adam had been even easier, he had only been 3 at the time, old enough to not require constant attention, and what he needed was easily given by day-care.

To be truthful, Adam had never really caused him any trouble, not in the ways his older two had, He liked to think that it was because he'd learnt from his mistakes, but deep down he knew it was only because Adam was a lot more like his late wife, a peacekeeper. Adam had only started playing Hockey as a way to spend time with his dad and older brother, Philip knew that, but he'd shown a remarkable talent, and to keep his guilty conscious at bay, Philip had thrown everything he had into making sure Adam had everything he wanted and needed to become the very best.

He hadn't even realised that Adam had actually fallen more in love with the sport than Nick ever had, he hadn't even noticed that he'd started using Hockey as another kind of day-care for Adam, not until after his son had been transferred to the Ducks. Since then he had been careful to only show support for his sons decisions, and tried his best not to try and control the outcome.

"Adam?" he began.

Adam looked up, startled, and then looked down again. "Dad."

"Is there a problem son?" he asked, glancing again towards Nick and Halle. Halle rolled her eyes again, grabbed Nick and pulled him from the room.

Adam sighed, but Philip knew his son would tell him, he might come across as heavy-handed to those outside his family, with an impossible set of goals for each of his children to meet, and he knew that Adam in particular tried to meet each goal head on. But his children knew he would listen to them if they needed to talk.

"I… I uh… I'm not on varsity anymore."

Part of Philip wanted to get angry, get indignant and demand to know why, but he'd done that when Adam had first been transferred to the Ducks, and even he could not deny that the change wrought in his son after the transfer wasn't amazing, Adam had become must happier. Philip had also noticed that Adam had not been that happier child for a number of weeks now, he had had his suspicions that it might have been the fact he was on the varsity team and not with his little friends.

"Okay." Philip said reasonably. "Would you like to tell me why?"

Adam looked up again and held his gaze this time. "Because…" he hesitated, and Philip could see him struggle with himself before thrusting out his right hand and pulling back the sleeve, revealing a a set of fading bruises.

"Varsity?" Philip asked in shock.

Adam nodded. "But it's ok, Coach Orion spoke to Coach Wilson, and had me transferred back to JV. Well, really, I think it was Charlie who spoke to the coach, but…" he hesitated again. "Is that ok?" he asked suddenly.

It reminded Philip of the night Adam had come to him, while he was busy doing the dinner dishes, to ask if he could please just play for the Ducks, that it didn't really matter that much… did it? And Philip hadn't been able to say know, even though the Hawks had been the better team at the time, and he's wanted Adam to have all the best things, in Hockey especially.

"It's fine Adam." He said. He made a mental note to speak to coach Wilson about the punishment those team members who had been bullying his son would be facing, because they would be punished.

Adam smiled.

"Can we come back in now?" Nick asked. "My dinners probably cold!"

Philip smiled.

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"Conway… Charlie!"

Charlie spun round in surprise, only to get even more of a shock when he saw that he had been called by one Philip Banks. He had only ever spoken to the man in passing, either when he was picking Adam up for a game, or leaving after an evening watching movies.

"Mr. Banks?" he asked, feeling a bit nervous to have his best friend's father's whole attention focused on him.

"Charlie." Mr. Banks said, looking at Charlie speculatively.

"Are you looking for Adam? He should be out in about five minutes." Charlie said, hoping to hide how nervous he was becoming.

Mr. Banks frowned and shook his head. "Actually I wanted to speak to you."

"Me?" Charlie squeaked.

"Yes. I would like to thank you."

"Thank me?" Now Charlie was very confused.

Mr. Banks shook his head again, but he was smiling a little. "For being such a good friend to my son."

Charlie's eyes went wide. "Uh… You're welcome sir."

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End file.
